Doctor: Bodies Need Salt, Water And A Break

On average, August is the hottest month in South Florida. Because of that, Donnelly, a roofing foreman, always carries a thermometer with him.

So when it hits 130 degrees on top of a house, which is often, Donnelly has two words for his seven-man crew: Slow down.

"We work about half as fast in the summer as we do in the winter," said Donnelly, 26, whose father Mike is founder of Roofing by M.P. Donnelly of Miramar. "And every time I hire a new guy, he gets sick as a dog."

Even though Floridians probably are better adapted to hot weather than people in many states, not all of us spend the heat of the day in air-conditioned comfort. And some, like Donnelly and his crew, add physical exertion to the heat.

But sometimes even the tough guys overdo it.

"Laborers, athletes, weekend workers and the obese suffer," said Dr. James Petillo, an emergency room physician at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. "Along with the very old and the very young, these are the people that are at risk."

The average temperature in August ranges from 90 to 91. This weekend will be in that ballpark or a little higher.

The National Weather Service is forecasting another hot, hazy day on Saturday, with temperatures in the low to mid-90s. But Florida Power & Light expects power demand to decrease over the weekend because most offices will be closed and their air-conditioners turned down or off.

On Friday, the hot, humid weather meant another day of tight electricity supplies at FPL. The heat wave has caused record energy use in Florida and the southeastern United States for the past few days.

"Basically, we expect little change," FPL spokesman Bill Swank said.

By Monday, repairs on a generator in Broward County should be complete, easing the energy crunch.

At Memorial Regional Hospital, physician Petillo works the day shift and sees about two cases a week of people suffering from heat-related illness.

Often, he said, people mistakenly think they can beat the heat simply by drinking water.

Water helps. But what the body really craves is salt, which is lost as a person sweats. An early sign of salt deprivation is cramping of muscles, usually the legs, which have the most muscle groups in the body, Petillo said.

"It's the loss of salt that makes you cramp up," Petillo said.

Sports drinks, such as Gatorade and Powerade, are ideal for replenishing the body's salt reserves, Petillo said.

"And if you don't want to pay for that, put a teaspoon of salt in every quart of water," he said.

Cramps are only the beginning. More serious problems include heat exhaustion, which often includes dizziness and nausea, and heat stroke, the most serious - and dangerous - of the three.

"People get confused, dizzy. They can have seizures," said Petillo, adding that anyone in that condition should be rushed to the hospital.

"I saw it once," said Jim Frier, 36, of Pembroke Pines, a mason who has been building homes in Weston. "A guy had seizures. He was in the hospital a few days. It was scary."

But many of those who have to sweat out their work days say they can adapt.

"You get used to it after a while. It doesn't bother me at all," said John Kopko, watching over the Charles Johnson landscaping crew at a Barnett Bank in Delray Beach. "In fact, I don't think I could work inside."